Philanthropist Melinda French Gates revealed that fresh Jeffrey Epstein documents naming her ex-husband Bill Gates dredged up painful marriage memories, leaving her “deeply sad” for victims while insisting he and others face the music over their links to the convicted sex offender.
Melinda Gates
In a promotional chat for NPR’s Wild Card podcast with Rachel Martin, Melinda distanced herself from the scandal, declaring no girl deserves Epstein’s “torturous” abuse by powerful predators and urging those cited—including Bill—to field tough questions directly.
“Whatever questions remain there, I can’t even begin to know all of it, those questions are for those people and for even my ex-husband, they need to answer to those things. Not me,” she stated, adding the files triggered “memories of some very, very painful times in my marriage. But I have moved on from that.”
Now in a “very beautiful place,” Melinda, who split from Bill in 2021 after voicing Epstein unease since 2019 meetings, refocuses on survivors rather than rehashing their saga, which sources tied to his financier dalliances post-2008 conviction.
The latest unsealed Justice Department trove features Epstein’s draft emails alleging Bill sought STI meds after Russian trysts and hid them from her via antibiotics—claims his camp slammed as “absurd and completely false,” exposing only Epstein’s spiteful failed bid for ongoing ties.
Bill has long rued Epstein dinners pitched for philanthropy billions that fizzled, admitting a “huge mistake” while Melinda once called him “evil personified” after a 2013 townhouse visit that left her unsettled and fuming.
The controversy reignites scrutiny of the Microsoft mogul’s orbit around the paedophile financier amid global Epstein file deluge, but Melinda shuts the door: her chapter closed, victims’ justice paramount.
